The spatial hierarchy of business organizations and its implications for the British urban system

Abstract

Westaway J. (1974) The spatial hierarchy of business organizations and its implications for the British urban system, Reg. Studies 8, 145–155. The paper discusses the rationale behind the spatial concentration of control functions of business organizations and its implications for the British urban system. This concentration is one dimension of the development of the corporate hierarchy. The development of business organizations is examined and the mechanism by which such developments are translated into a spatial context is seen largely in terms of access to specialized information. The increasing spatial concentration of control functions of organizations has important implications, both economic, in terms of the future behaviour of firms, and social, in terms of the loss of community control of local industries and spatial variations in social class structure. The key policy question is seen as a decision between allowing continued centralization or to encourage the decentralization of control function...